Oatmeal Again
by notjaneausten
Summary: Slightly AU, Season 3 ONESHOT - Daryl makes a stray comment over Carol's cooking that unintentionally reveals his true feelings.


Oatmeal Again.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from The Walking Dead; I'm just borrowing them for a short while…

"Oatmeal again huh?" Rick poked his spoon around his bowl, a grimace twisting his ordinarily handsome features into a tight scowl. They had all lost weight over the harsh winter out on the road but were slowly beginning to fill out again now that they had a found sanctuary within an abandoned state penitentiary. They had been settled into their new home for about three months now with the walkers kept out of the grounds by a double ring of reinforced fencing. Rick even had Carl and Hershel working on a little vegetable garden. The group had suffered the loss of Rick's wife, Lori during the horrific birth of their second child, Judith. Any remaining doubts regarding the child's biological father were dismissed as soon as they saw the cowlick that was a perfect match to her elder sibling, Carl. No one would have thought any less of Rick or Lori even if the child had turned out to be an unfortunate result of a brief affair carried out with Rick's former partner, Shane. Lori had been an emotional wreck when Shane had lied to her about Rick passing away from a gunshot wound inflicted just before the world went to hell in a hand basket; and had mistakenly turned to Shane for comfort. The affair did not end well, since Rick arrived at their camp just outside Atlanta, no worse for wear despite being left abandoned in King County Hospital when everyone had assumed him dead.

"Sorry it's the best I can do until Michonne and Tyrese get back from their run. Stores have been running low but for some reason the US Prison Service seems to have a never ending supply of oatmeal." Carol, a quiet widow from the original Atlanta group, looked up from where she was stirring up yet another batch of the gloopy substance. She had lost her husband, Ed and only daughter, Sophia on the long road to Sanctuary and although she had not spared one moment's grief at the parting of her abusive husband; she still mourned deeply over the loss of her beloved child.

"Bet we don't even have any honey to sweeten it up a little even?" Rick continued to poke his spoon into the bowl, the discovery of the dry goods store in the prison a few weeks ago had seemed like a blessing at the time, and they had eaten like Kings for their first few days before realising that they had better start being more sensible about where their next meals were coming from.

Luckily they had benefit of two excellent trackers within the group who provided fresh meat every couple of days; Daryl Dixon a smart mouthed redneck who excelled with a cross bow and the relative newcomer to the group, Michonne who carried a Katana blade like a Samurai warrior. Michonne had cared for Andrea throughout the harsh winter, after she had become separated from the group after they had left the Greene's farm. She had discovered Andrea suffering from a fever in some woodlands and taken her in without question; before meeting up with Rick's group in early spring. Both ladies had decided to stay at the prison despite being offered a place over in Woodbury, a fortified town some twenty miles away run by a malicious control freak nicknamed 'The Governor'. The Governor had been causing trouble for Rick ever since they had moved into the prison, so the group ran round the clock watches to ensure their safety. So far, all of the attacks on the groups had been made whilst out on supply runs but Rick wasn't prepared to take any chances with the safety of his people.

"Rick, don't be such a pussy. All ya need is a little sugar to make the medicine go down." Daryl strode into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl from the table. He leant over and scooped a large ladleful out of the pot and plopped it into the bowl. He straddled the bench alongside Rick and spooned the oatmeal into his mouth as if it were finest ambrosia.

"We don't have any sugar, Daryl." Carol sighed heavily as she served herself a small portion and took a seat in between the two men. They were among the last few to eat that morning, with only Glenn, Maggie and Hershel sit remaining in the kitchen. The other three were grouped at the far end of the table, spooning in their oatmeal without any sign of complaint, until Glenn looked up from his spoon with a groan.

"I was fine eating this, until you had to go and mention honey and sugar. Now it just tastes like paste in my mouth. Way to go, Rick." Glenn dropped his spoon back into the bowl where it immediately started to sink down into the glue like substance. Maggie stopped eating and leant across the table to place a smacking wet kiss on her husband's lips.

"There you go, Glenn you've had a little sugar, now shut up and eat!" She glared at him from across the table daring him to continue. A huge smile spread across his face as he picked up the spoon again and started shovelling the oatmeal into his mouth.

"Now that's the sugar I'm talkin' about!" Daryl nodded his head in Maggie's direction and continued to eat his breakfast.

"Don't see anyone offering you any 'sugar' this morning, or do you have somethin' going on that I don't know about?" Rick looked at Daryl suspiciously, did the other man have something going on with one of the ladies that they had taken in from Woodbury? There were two young blondes in particular that seemed to hang around the yard a bit whenever they knew Daryl would be setting up target practises. Daryl just shrugged his shoulders and carried on eating.

"You do have something going on, don't you? Come on spill, man." Rick leant over and nudged Carol's shoulder. "Carol, you two share a cell you must know something…" The others at the end of the table stopped eating and leant forward, eager for any juicy gossip. Had Daryl finally made a move on his sweet, but painfully reserved cell mate?

"Sorry, Rick. I don't know anything." Carol glanced up between the two men and carried on eating, letting their words flow above her head.

"Daryl, you're telling me that you don't have anything going on with anyone in the prison and yet you can shovel this crapola in like it's been drenched in sugar? What's going on?" Rick continued to press his friend for an answer and finally Daryl laid down his spoon with a sigh.

"Look Rick, Carol pours her heart and soul into every meal she makes around this place. That should be enough to make any dish of 'crapola' sweet for even your tastes." Daryl pushed himself away from the table and laid a callused hand on Carol's shoulder, feeling her tense up beneath his touch. He squeezed lightly and leant down a little to address his words only to her.

"Thanks Carol, it was sweet enough for me anyway." He nodded to the rest and placed his empty bowl near the sink for washing and strode out of the kitchen like he had no cares in the world.

"Oohhh, Carol. Do you think I could get some of THAT sugar?" Rick leant across too nudge the quiet widow with his shoulder playfully. He could see that Carol was blushing furiously, hating to be the centre of attention and tried to lighten the atmosphere with his laughing tone.

"Don't quite know what made him say all of that, it's just oatmeal for Goodness sake." Carol kept her head low and tried to remain inconspicuous. Maggie slid up the bench and wrapped her arm around Carol's shoulders.

"Carol, it's not just oatmeal and you know it. You do most of the cooking and cleaning around here as well as making sure that the kids have everything they need. You make sure that everyone knows what we are running short of so that we are prepared when we go out on runs. You do your share of fence duties and you have better aim than I do when it comes handling a machete. You really don't know how important you are to the group do you? I guess that Daryl was just stating what the rest of us were too blind to see…" Maggie squeezed Carol's shoulders in a hug and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Thank you, Carol. The oatmeal was sweet enough for me too." Glenn slid up the bench and kissed her other cheek.

"Me too, Carol. Plenty sweet enough." Glenn practically ran from the kitchen, never one for showing his emotions to anyone apart from his fiery Maggie. Hershel rose to his feet and placed his hand over Carol's lying on the table. He gave it a fond pat in farewell and gruffly stated that the oatmeal was just fine. Rick looked at everyone in amazement, and then scowled back down into his bowl.

"I still think it could do with a little honey….."


End file.
